#47
Suddenly, it was as if colors that weren’t visible before started to appear, and a different side of the world began to show itself. Whether this was a good thing or not would only be known after experiencing it. The lack of time to adapt added weight to the anxiety.
“Your expression gives you away too much,” said Shim AD as he handed over a drink.
“You were sniffing the whole way here. Actually, since our company is quite young, there are quite a few of us. If you act so obviously, rumors will spread quickly.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll be careful.”
“No need to apologize, man.”
Shim AD tilted his head slightly and moved closer to Eunhong. “Well, it’s interesting,” he muttered. “You found a suitable medication quickly.” When Eunhong blinked with a puzzled face, he added nonchalantly,
“To be honest, when I saw your condition today, I was thinking about sending you on vacation again.”
“What? But I already had such a long vacation…”
“There are so many types of medication, you know. I don’t know if you were lucky or what, but it seems you found a suitable one quickly. I can barely sense your pheromones. It’s good that your stable period came so quickly, but it’s surprising.”
“Oh, the medication. There’s someone I know who…”
Eunhong sipped his iced latte, recalling how Professor Choi had given him new medication last night. He had apparently spent several sleepless nights finding the most suitable medication using Eunhong’s hair and other samples. It seemed his complaints about working overtime at his age weren’t just empty words after all.
“But you know, even if you hide it with medication, alphas are like psychics when it comes to finding omegas, right? There’s a reason they say alphas have built-in radars.”
Eunhong smiled broadly at the radar comment, but Shim AD’s expression remained quite serious.
“Don’t laugh, you’ve been mistaken for an omega many times before, so you might be able to hide it better, but the more dominant ones are even more sensitive. Don’t go up to the 9th floor where Team Leader Kim is.”
“Okay.”
“I’m telling you to be careful until you stabilize without medication. There’s a reason they say omega pheromones are legal drugs. There’s nothing good about becoming the subject of big rumors.”
Legal drugs. Eunhong had heard this from Jaeha too. When he had objected to Jaeha coming to pick him up after work, that’s what Jaeha had said. Eunhong felt intimidated by the suddenly approaching reality that seemed more dangerous than he had thought.
On the way back to the office, Eunhong made one more request to Shim AD. He mentioned that he might need to go out during work hours to visit the hospital regarding his manifestation. He had expected to be scolded for needing to be out again after such a long vacation, but surprisingly, Shim AD nodded in agreement.
Although he felt guilty about lying to his considerate superior, he didn’t want to say that he needed to go to the hospital for an investigation. He sighed at the harsh reality of contracts and medication that hit him as soon as he returned to work with his changed body, but he decided to adapt by clearing things one by one, as they say, strike while the iron is hot.
“Thank you, AD-nim,” Eunhong said quietly as he followed behind Shim AD. He meant it sincerely. It seemed that thanks to people like him, an accident that could have ruined his life was passing by quietly. As if brushing off the gratitude, Shim AD said with an indifferent expression,
“Just buy me a drink sometime.”
“Yes, sir.”
Eunhong sent a message to Han Jeongwook with a date for his upcoming visit. A vague expectation arose that his life might return to normal soon.
“Oh, has Ban-part returned alive?”
“If you went abroad, where’s our souvenir?”
“I told you it wasn’t roaming. You’re really insisting till the end.”
Heads popped up one by one over the partitions. Eunhong greeted them back, letting his awkward facade crumble in the face of their welcoming expressions. He had run many simulations on how to explain his sudden week-long vacation during the busy year-end, but when it came time to actually lie, the words wouldn’t come out. Eunhong quietly headed to his seat.
“Part leadeeer!”
Seo Heeseung rushed over to Eunhong’s desk.
People started gathering one by one, catching the mood. Shim AD grabbed Eunhong’s shoulder and said in a deliberately weighty tone,
“Ban-part isn’t fully recovered yet, so don’t bother him too much. Junseok, share the work distribution. Heeseung, why are you acting like you’ve been waiting for this?”
“What do you mean, acting like I’ve been waiting?”
“Finish things up yourself for once. Stop whining and asking Eunhong to teach you everything all the time.”
“I don’t do that all the time…”
“I don’t mind…”
“Eunhong, you’re too soft. That’s why you end up overworking yourself.”
Somehow, Eunhong had become a seriously ill patient. While he was glad he didn’t have to lie, he couldn’t keep pretending to be sick forever, so he waved his hands saying he was fine. At this, his team members offered bland consolations with sympathetic looks, saying they understood and encouraging him to stay strong.
Eunhong visibly relaxed seeing that the team atmosphere remained the same. He had worried about being blamed for dumping work on others and taking a long vacation. He had been concerned about leaking pheromones or making mistakes due to nervousness when facing people, but thanks to the gentle atmosphere, things went smoothly.
Although he didn’t know what would happen in the future, Eunhong felt a bit dazed at the moment. He also felt a bit warm inside, having reaffirmed his team members’ affection.
“I sent Ban-part’s schedule by email. Check it out. We divided up all the work since we heard you might be on vacation longer, but for now, it looks like you just need to check and take on the items that haven’t progressed by the next meeting.”
“Okay.”
“And this is your discharge gift.”
Yoo Junseok smiled and handed over a container full of chocolates, adding words of encouragement to work without stress.
“Thank you.”
The list of things to be grateful for kept growing.
***
Finally, when the office quieted down, Eunhong slowly started by checking his schedule. Not only did he look at the team’s work progress, but he also briefly opened the contest drawing he had set aside for a long time. With the contest deadline approaching, he needed to start working on it again. If he drew intensively from now on, he thought he could meet the deadline and submit work of the quality he wanted.
[An Woohyun: Did you come to work?] 11:15
A square message alert popped up at the bottom of the monitor.
[Ban Eunhong: Yeah. My vacation was until yesterday.] 11:16
The purpose of Woohyun’s message was obvious. He was curious about what had happened to Eunhong during his recent vacation. It’s not just that a perfectly fine person took a week-long vacation, but it’s even more surprising that it was readily approved from above.
[An Woohyun: ㅡㅡ Must have been nice to slack off.] 11:16
[An Woohyun: What did you do for a week?] 11:16
[An Woohyun: Had some fun?] 11:17
[An Woohyun: That alpha bastard seemed crazy to fuck you, I guess he got his wish?] 11:17
Eunhong’s hand, which had been continuing rough sketches while glancing at the incoming messages, suddenly stopped.
[Ban Eunhong: I told you it’s not like that. Are you really going to keep talking trash?] 11:17
His mood plummeted instantly. Even if he could ignore comments about himself, he couldn’t tolerate careless talk about Jaeha. It wasn’t the first or second time Woohyun had needled him like this, and he knew that getting upset would only make it more fun for Woohyun, but it was hard to ignore.
[Ban Eunhong: Jaeha doesn’t deserve to be talked about like that by you.] 11:17
[An Woohyun: Who is he? Is he someone so great?] 11:18
[An Woohyun: Trash? Are you crazy?] 11:18
Eunhong sighed, pressing his forehead.
[Ban Eunhong: Let’s just have lunch together. I have something to give you.] 11:25
Eunhong took out two 50,000 won bills that he had tucked between the pages of a book. After being wedged there for a few days, the crumpled bills had somewhat straightened out. He pressed hard on the deep creases with his fingertips.
[An Woohyun: What do you have to give?] 11:29
[An Woohyun: Trying to smooth things over with just lunch?] 11:30
Eunhong stared at the monitor silently for a while.
[An Woohyun: You’re paying, right? Then sushi.] 11:35
[Ban Eunhong: Let’s meet at that place from before then. I might be about 10 minutes late.] 11:35
Not wanting to continue the conversation any further, Eunhong changed his status on the company messenger program to “in a meeting.” He didn’t forget to put the two 50,000 won bills given by Woohyun’s mother in his pocket in advance.
Eunhong cracked his neck a couple of times, which had stiffened in just a short while. His shoulders had tensed up considerably during the brief conversation with Woohyun. Worried that stress might affect his pheromones, he glanced at his smartwatch before standing up with his mug. One iced latte he had in the morning was nowhere near enough caffeine.
Part of him wanted to reveal his new gender and see Woohyun’s contorted face. I’m now an omega, and I’ve become the extreme dominant you so desperately wanted. So stop sneering now. Your pathetic pheromones are pitiful. The base desire to spew harsh words to his face reared its head.
Now he realized that keeping a secret wasn’t easy at all. He thought the expression “itchy mouth” was really appropriate.
